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USEFUL DOMESTIC HINTS.

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APPLES.

The preservation of apples is now brought to great perfection, by keeping them in jars secure from the action of air; but there is one method of preparing them for culinary purposes which is not practised in this country.  Any good baking sort, which is liable to rot, if peeled and cut into slices about the thickness of one-sixth of an inch, and dried in the sun, or in a slow oven, till sufficiently desiccated, may be afterwards kept in boxes in a dry place for a considerable time, and only require to be soaked in water for an hour or two before using.

At a recent meeting of the Horticultural Society, a large collection of the best late varieties of the apple, as grown in America, were exhibited.  It was a remarkable circumstance, that, while these fruits are unusually handsome, none of them, except the New-town pippin, were, although sweet and pleasant, comparable to our fine European apples; and yet the New-town pippin, the only good variety, is as much superior to any variety of apple known in Europe as the others were inferior.

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BLACK DYE AND INK.

The following is a process for the preparation of a black dye, for which a patent was taken out at Vienna by M. Honig:—­Logwood is to be boiled several times in water, and a little sub-carbonate of potash to be added to the decoctions, the quantity being so moderated that it shall not change the colour to blue; the stuff to be dyed is then to be plunged into this bath.  This stuff may be either animal or vegetable.  When it is well impregnated with colouring matter, it is to be withdrawn, and, without being exposed to air, is to be introduced into a solution of green-vitriol, and left there until it has obtained the desired black hue.  In preparing the ink, the decoction of logwood is used in place of the infusion of galls.

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MALT LIQUORS.

By a Physician.

I am much disposed to extol the virtues of malt liquors.  When properly fermented, well hopped, and of a moderate strength, they are refreshing, wholesome, and nourishing.  It is a common observation, that those who drink sound malt liquors are stronger than those who drink wine; and to those who are trained to boxing, and other athletic exercises, old home-brewed beer is particularly recommended, drawn from the cask, and not bottled.  Hence Jackson, the celebrated trainer, affirms, if any person accustomed to drink wine would but try malt liquor for a month, he would find himself so much the better for it, that he would soon take to the one, and abandon the other.  Some suppose the superior bottom of the British soldiery to be owing, in a great measure, to their use of malt liquor.